A Sense of Hope
by Connor846
Summary: Future John Connor sets in motion a plan to save his old friend and to stop Skynet before Judgement day. An alternate universe that combines the movies and TV series.
1. From the Shadows

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Terminator or the Sarah Connor Chronicles, nor did I create any of the places and events listed here. No copyright infringement is intended and no monetary profit is or will be gained. This is purely for testing my own creativity.

"A Sense of Hope" is one of the last lines spoken by the Sarah Connor character at the end of T2 and I thought it was a fitting title to this work.

Connor

**Author's Note:** This is my way of tying in the Terminator movie series and T: SCC. As always, I am constantly working to refine my writing technique to deliver as good of a story that I can for you, the readers, to enjoy. Constructive reviews are appreciated and negative criticism will be ignored.

* * *

**Steel Mill  
****Los Angeles  
****1995 **

It was a poignant scene that the intruder was watching.

On the platform just above him were a young John Connor and his mother Sarah Connor. They stood watching the T-800 who had just valiantly defended them be lowered into the vat of molten steel.

The stranger watched as the being he knew as "Bob" heroically gave a thumbs up sign before disappearing into the glowing liquid. He glanced up again, looking at the Connor's while a silent mantra repeated through his head.

_C'mon, C'mon, just fucking leave already! _

As if they head his mental command, Sarah and her son gave one last glance below and turned around, heading for the exit. The stranger waited an additional thirty seconds before making a half turn and smacking the button that controlled the chain holding the Terminator. He dropped a tool box near the edge and watched the result of his actions.

With a muted jerk, the chain began its upward journey. The sight that greeted him brought a strangled moan from his lips. What had been a live, but damaged, Terminator just a few minutes before was now a half melted lump of Titanium and Coltan.

"Damn" he said "I didn't think it would damage it this fast. Hrmm, lets see … we should have had almost 5 minutes before the CPU port would have been breached by the heat … the power plant is fried … ok, c'mere Blank!"

At his command another figure stepped forth from the shadows. It was another Terminator, a T-888 series 101 to be exact. It was another copy of Uncle Bob … but an upgraded one.

The Blank mechanically stepped over to the man and then stood there, waiting for more orders. The man himself manipulated the control box to bring the former Terminator closer to the edge, away from the heat and molten steel swirling beneath. Motioning for the Blank to grab the chain and pull it closer, he reached down into the tool box and took out a battery powered saw.

The Blank pulled the chassis closer and stood waiting for more orders. Within seconds, sparks flew from the melted metal where the saw bit into the cranial area, near the CPU access port.

As he cut, the stranger's thoughts drifted back to another place and another time.

**XXXXXXX**

**Los Angeles  
****Serrano Point Nuclear Power Plant  
****Terminator re-programming division  
****2032 **

A lone solitary figure sat at a desk deep within the base. He was a middle aged man who had an intense look of concentration as he stared at the computer monitor. Lines of code scrolled down the screen at an incredible rate before stopping at one particular section.

A muted "Ah-HA!" came from the figure as he deleted the sections and re-wrote some new coding.

"Impressive" came a voice from behind him. The man turned in annoyance before his eyes widened in surprise. He bolted up out of his seat, somewhat awkwardly, and saluted.

"General Connor, Sir!" he yelped.

John Connor waved him away as he looked briefly around the room.

"At ease Captain Parker. I've come to talk to you about a project."

"Yes Sir."

Connor glanced at a file folder he had in his hand before resuming the conversation.

"Captain Parker … Can I call you Liam?" a brief nod signaled consent before Connor continued. "Liam, do you remember the tales I've told about the Terminator that came back through time and saved my mother and me from the T-1000?"

Liam Parker gave another brief nod. The tales of the unknown heroic resistance fighter and the re-programmed Terminator that had saved him and Sarah Connor were almost legend among the Resistance.

"Well" continued Connor "Do you know how long it would take molten steel to breach the CPU port on a T-800?"

Parker was thrown for a brief second before he came up with an answer.

"Since the Coltan-Titanium alloy has high heat resistance and a high melting point … It would be approximately four to five minutes before the CPU port was breached, Sir. But it's a moot point as the power supply would be gone in less than 30 seconds in that particular design model. The T-800 would be rendered non operational almost immediately. The newer T-888 model has better protection in that area." He said.

Connor gave a broad grin before clapping Parker on the shoulder.

"That's good news Liam. You're going to do me a favor and help me save a friend"

**XXXXXX **

That's how Liam Parker found himself 37 years in the past, cutting into a half melted Terminator chassis.

He finished cutting a rough semi-circle in the deformed skull, set down the cutter, and grabbed the port cover with a pair of pliers. Yanking the cover, he tossed it back into the vat of molten metal. Taking a flashlight, he peered into the hole.

"Excellent, it's still intact." He said.

Reaching into the hole with the pliers, he extracted the Terminator CPU carefully depositing it in his hand. Taking a plastic bag and a cloth out of his pocket, he gingerly sealed it up and wrapped it before depositing it back in his pocket. Dropping the cutter and pliers into the vat as well, he motioned to the Blank and said:

"Ok, we're done here. Drop that back in the vat and let's go before the cops arrive."

The Blank simply gave a shove to the chain, moving the destroyed chassis back over the center of the molten steel. When it reached the center, Liam hit the button to lower it back in.

He paused for a second and watched as it was lowered back in. When it had completely disappeared again, they turned to leave.

Liam patted his pocket as they made their way out, thinking to himself:

_Soon my friend, you'll be able to finish your mission and completely destroy Skynet. _


	2. It's ALIVE!

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Terminator or the Sarah Connor Chronicles, nor did I create any of the places and events listed here. No copyright infringement is intended and no monetary profit is or will be gained. This is purely for testing my own creativity.

Connor

**Author's Note:** This is my way of tying in the Terminator movie series and T: SCC. As always, I am constantly working to refine my writing technique to deliver as good of a story that I can for you, the readers, to enjoy. Constructive reviews are appreciated and negative criticism will be ignored.

* * *

**Liam Parker's Safe House  
****Basement  
****Los Angeles  
****1995**

Liam Parker settled himself into the chair behind the workbench. To his right sat the "Blank" T-888 model 101 Terminator that had made the trip back in time with him.

"Alright Blanks, lets open you up" he said.

The Blank, with a cold vacant stare that even a Skynet Terminator didn't possess, reached up and removed a previously cut flap of skin that revealed both the secondary and primary CPU access ports. Liam then reached over with another pair of pliers and twisted the port covers counter-clockwise, taking them both off.

"Ok Blanks … set system for shutdown upon removal of primary CPU, immediate download from secondary CPU onto primary and overwrite upon re-insertion into unit and voice activation command."

The Terminator paused for a second before replying "Affirmative, command acknowledged"

And with that Liam pulled the primary CPU from its port. The light behind the Terminators eyes glowed blue for a brief second before disappearing completely. Liam sighed briefly then set the chip down on the bench and began to work.

He set the chip to "read/write" instead of "read only" and turned back towards the inactive cyborg. Reaching over to a wrapped object that was sitting on the bench, he removed the cloth covering the CPU that he had salvaged from "Uncle Bob". Leaning over, he delicately inserted the chip into the secondary access port.

Gently picking up the primary CPU, he re-inserted it and closed both port covers, replacing the skin flap over the ports. Sitting back for a second, he stared at the immobile face before saying:

"Unit model 101, command code A56-7W, Activate."

Nothing happened for a brief second before the blue glow returned and the Terminator jerked upright in the seat. Under his breath, Liam muttered:

"It's _alive_! Muahahahaah …"

**XXXXXX**

Inside the Terminator a series of binary code scrolled down the viewpoint before a series of words flashed on the screen.

MEMORY FILE TRANSFER INTIATED  
CPU REBOOT INTIATED  
PRIMARY POWER REROUTE  
WAITING …  
DIAGNOSTIC INTIATED  
FUNCTION CHECK: 100 percent  
MOBILITY: 100 percent  
MEMORY CORE FILES: 100 percent

A memory immediately flashed on the screen. It was a red overlaid image of a Sarah and John Connor looking down on him before his optical sensors where submerged and his HUD blacked out.

His optic sensors came back online and he looked up to see a human sitting in front of him. He was an older man, probably in the late fifties age range … and he could see him in full color.

Bob sat there for a second when an image popped up on the left side of his HUD with information on it.

Identity: Captain Liam Thomas Parker  
Division: Tech-Com Terminator Reprogramming

He waited a few more seconds before speaking.

"Captain Parker. How am I here? Why was I resurrected?"

**XXXXXX**

Liam grinned when the Terminator turned its head and spoke to him.

"Welcome back to the land of the living Bob. May I call you Bob?"

The only response he got was a raised eyebrow. Liam took that as a good sign and forged ahead.

"You might have figured out by now that your valiant sacrifice to prevent the rise of Skynet was kind of pointless. We learned, after the bombs fell, that Skynet wasn't just a hardware system but also a software package as well."

Liam got up from his stool and started pacing as he continued talking.

"By the time that you and Sarah Connor went all Al-Qaeda on Cyberdine Systems, the U.S. Air Force had already received preliminary coding and designs for the defense system they would eventually install on their network. It also appears that Skynet has sent agents into the past to upload itself as a viral worm onto the World Wide Web … thereby ensuring its own creation."

Bob took all this information stoically … but Liam could see a small downcast turn to his face. It almost looked like Bob was displaying emotion. Liam grinned at this point, but only because he knew something that Bob didn't.

Back in 2032 Connor had told Liam that Bob's new chip was … different, and had filled him in on all the details. And now Bob was going to learn just how different, but yet still the same, that he was.

Bob looked up from his physical inspection that he had been conducting and asked Liam:

"You still have not answered my question. Why was I recovered and resurrected?"

Liam grinned and said "I can't answer that for you Bob, only you can"

"I don't understand"

"Search for and execute file Connor-01"

Bob's CPU immediately brought up the file and the Y/N command sat blinking in the lower left hand corner of his HUD. Without delay, he chose the Y command and his view went black

**XXXXXX**

Bob's viewpoint gradually came back and he was presented with a strange sight. He was standing in a white room and there was no HUD display in front of him.

He was seeing normally, in color.

He looked down at his hands and then around the room, finally noticing the figure standing off in the corner. He was an older man with black hair, dressed in combat fatigues, with a slight grin on his face.

Bob knew him … although the last time he had seen the man, he was ten years old.

John Connor, or rather the digital representation of him, spoke up and said:

"Hello Uncle Bob. It's been a while, hasn't it?"

Bob said nothing, sensing that he wasn't supposed to yet.

"You're wondering how this is possible? Virtual Reality simulation. I am an encoded message from the real John Connor and I have much to tell you"

Connor began walking in a circle around the room, speaking as he did so.

"Our actions didn't prevent Judgment Day, only delayed it. Well, we're going to end it once and for all. You where brought back for multiple reasons. One of the main ones is that I trust you … and there will be a valuable ally in the future who will need your trust and help. Therein lies out key to defeating Skynet."

Connor paused and grabbed Bob by the shoulders, sheepishly looking more like the ten year old boy that Bob had known.

"Another thing, first and foremost, was that I owed you. You sacrificed yourself to save me and prevent Skynet. I couldn't let that go, so I had to save you somehow."

Connor resumed his walking around and continued to speak.

"You've been given the body of an upgraded and enhanced T-888 series and your chip is a revolutionary new model that I've programmed myself. You'll notice some changes soon. This will enable you to carry out your mission, if you choose to accept it"

Bob got a strange look on his face at that point. He still couldn't speak so Connor continued on.

"Yes, you will have total free will. No hidden directives, no commands, no major programming … everything you do will be of your own choice."

Bob stood speechless for a short bit before he was finally able to speak. The words that came out of his mouth startled even him.

"Thank … you"

Connor grinned and said:

"It's the least I could do for you. We have much to talk about, old friend"

**XXXXXX**

Liam watched as the blue glow returned to Bob's eyes and he stood up. He then turned to Liam and said, with a smile:

"I'm back"

Liam barked a short laugh and said: "That's great man … but we need to work on that smile of yours. Little creepy."


	3. Chapter 3

Hello to all the readers that are following this story.

I wanted to take a minute to catch everyone up and let all of you know that I have not abandoned this body of work. With every story I write I do a full outline before hand and then flesh out the details before writing.

So, the stories are there just waiting for me to finish them.

Now … "Why haven't you finished them then?" is probably the thought going through your heads. Truth be told, I've run into a little stumbling/writers block with all the stories I'm writing.

There's also the fact that I'm trying to finish college taking 18 credits a semester, working 20-30 hours a week, running an experiment in a lab, and expecting the birth of my first child.

All of these things combined have tripped me up for a while and taken my attention away from this. However, I can't just leave them undone. Every story, once started, deserves to be told.

To that end I have re-tasked about an hour or so each night to writing these. That's about all I can spare at the moment. I've also been rereading some of the earlier work and noticed glaring inconsistencies along with spots where the story didn't really flow that well.

So rewrites and new chapters will be coming soon, just please be patient and bear with me.

Thank you all,

Connor


End file.
